Query: Has anyone actually suggested that ministers of religion including Catholic priests should deny access to their churches to the unvaccinated? Not so far as I know. But then the precautions taken in church to make them safe during the pandemic are sufficiently rigorous to reassure us anyway. So why was it that 1,300 clergy signed an open letter to the Government to complain about the potential introduction of vaccine passports – digital proof that the holder has had two vaccinations? The issue is vexatious to libertarians who dislike the notion that governments have more information about us than is strictly necessary, but I can’t quite see the religious aspect of the thing.
Yet the clergy who have signed the letter passionately declare that, “for the Church of Jesus Christ to shut out those deemed by the state to be social undesirables would be anathema to us and a denial of the truth of the Gospel”. Yes indeed. But no one has actually suggested anything of the kind.
22 April 2021, The Tablet
The Churches have got only so much moral capital; squandering it is a waste
Get Instant Access
Continue Reading
Register for free to read this article in full
Subscribe for unlimited access
From just £30 quarterly
Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
The full weekly edition in print and digital including our 179 years archive.
PDF version to view on iPad, iPhone or computer.
Already a subscriber? Login